Method, apparatus, and system for providing plurality of services using one beacon

ABSTRACT

Provided are a beacon service method, apparatus, and system for providing a plurality of services using one beacon device by allowing the beacon device to broadcast a plurality of beacon signals for providing the plurality of services to a certain user terminal. The beacon device includes a first communication module configured to broadcast a beacon signal, a storage module configured to store transmission information for a plurality of beacon signals, and a control module configured to use the transmission information for the plurality of beacon signals stored in the storage module to control the first communication module to alternately broadcast the plurality of beacon signals.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2015-0061168 filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Apr. 30, 2015, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a solution for providing a beaconservice, and more particularly, to a beacon service method, apparatus,and system for providing a plurality of services using one beacondevice.

BACKGROUND

This section is intended to merely provide background for embodiments ofthe present invention and is not considered prior art in the claims.

With the development of mobile communication networks and the advance interminal specifications, mobile communication terminals have become thenecessity for modern people and have evolved into total entertainmentequipment beyond typical simple communication devices or informationproviding devices.

Further, technologies for performing short-range wireless communicationbetween devices that are located within a short distance are beingrapidly developed.

In this communication, a near field communication (NFC)-based servicecapable of transmitting and receiving desired data through bidirectionalcommunication when a mobile communication terminal comes in contact witha point of sale (POS) terminal installed in a store or a beacon-basedservice capable of periodically transmitting a signal using anelectromagnetic or acoustic wave, driving a specific application of anearby mobile communication terminal, and providing desired content isused.

In this case, services provided by service providers may includeservices in various fields such as promotion, finance, payment, games,or the like, which are currently provided on the wired/wirelessInternet, for example, a comparative simple promotion page service, aservice for downloading a low-priced discount coupon, a service forpaying for a product purchased in a store, and a service for downloadingapplications such as a game to users.

However, generally, the beacon service has a shortcoming in that onebeacon device transmits unique identification information (e.g., abeacon ID) and only one service.

In addition, in order to overcome such a shortcoming, several servicesin one service page may be provided through a menu link. However, when aperiod of an individual service has elapsed, the service ends, and thusa change of a page, such as deletion of a page, is needed.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT Patent Document

Korean Patent No. 10-1220911 published on Jan. 11, 2013, entitled “TheSystem for Tracking a Position Based on the Local Area WirelessCommunication Network and the Method Thereof”

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to providing a plurality of beaconservices using one beacon device installed in a shop. In particular, thepresent invention is directed to providing a service method, apparatus,and system, in which one beacon device uses the transmission informationfor generating the plurality of signals to transmit a plurality ofbeacon signals corresponding to the services.

One aspect of the present invention provides a beacon device including:a first communication module configured to broadcast a beacon signal; astorage module configured to store transmission information for aplurality of beacon signals; and a control module configured to use thetransmission information for the plurality of beacon signals stored inthe storage module to control the first communication module toalternately broadcast the plurality of beacon signals.

The beacon device may further include a second communication moduleconfigured to transmit and receive data to and from a beacon signalmanagement server, in which the transmission information for theplurality of beacon signals is received from the beacon signalmanagement server through the second communication module.

The transmission information may include overall information commonlyapplied to the plurality of beacon signals and individual informationindividually applied to each of the plurality of beacon signals.

The overall information may include one or more of the number of beaconsignals, the number of repetitions of the beacon signals, an intervalbetween the beacon signals, and a beacon signal transmission duration,and the individual information may include one or more of firstidentification information, second identification information, and atransmission power intensity.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a beacon service systemincluding: a beacon signal management server; and a beacon device, inwhich the beacon signal management server is configured to transmit andreceive data in communication with the beacon device and transmittransmission information for a plurality of beacon signals to the beacondevice, the transmission information being used by an administrator tocontrol the beacon signals broadcasted from the beacon device, and inwhich the beacon device is configured to receive the transmissioninformation for the plurality of beacon signals from the beacon signalmanagement server and alternately broadcast the plurality of beaconsignals based on the transmission information.

Still another aspect of the present invention provides a beacon servicemethod in a beacon device, the beacon service method including: storingtransmission information for a plurality of beacon signals; and usingthe stored transmission information for the plurality of beacon signalsto alternately broadcast the plurality of beacon signals.

The beacon service method may further include receiving the transmissioninformation for the plurality of beacon signals from the beacon signalmanagement server before the storing.

Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a computer-readablerecording medium storing a computer program for executing the beaconservice method.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, one beacon devicecan provide a plurality of services while one conventional beacon devicecan provide only one service.

In addition, when the beacon signal management server is used, it ispossible to simply change the transmission information of the beaconsignal.

Thus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a pluralityof beacon device are not needed to provide the plurality of services,thereby reducing installation and operating costs of the beacon device.

The effect of the present invention is not limited to the aforesaid, butother effects not described herein will be clearly understood by thoseskilled in the art from descriptions below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a beacon service system according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a beacondevice and a beacon signal management server in a beacon service systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a beacondevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a beaconsignal management server according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a service performing processin a beacon service system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a beacon service providing method ina beacon device of the above-described beacon service system accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a beacon service providing method ina beacon signal management server of the above-described beacon servicesystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of transmission information that isset when one beacon device provides a plurality of beacon servicesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view showing, along a time axis, a plurality of beaconsignals generated by a beacon device according to transmissioninformation when one beacon device provides a plurality of beaconservices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a view showing example 1 for showing that one beacon deviceprovides a plurality of beacon services according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing example 2 for showing that one beacon deviceprovides a plurality of beacon services according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Thefeatures and advantages of aspects of the present invention will becomemore apparent from the detailed description set forth below.

However, detailed descriptions related to well-known functions orconfigurations will be ruled out in order not to unnecessarily obscurethe subject matter of the present invention. In addition, it should benoted that like reference numerals denote like elements throughout thespecification and drawings.

The terms or words used in the specification and claims should not beconstrued as being limited to typical or dictionary meanings, but shouldbe construed as the meaning and concept corresponding to the technicalidea of the present invention on the basis of the principle that aninventor can appropriately define the concept of the term for describinghis or her invention in the best manner. Accordingly, the configurationsillustrated in embodiments and drawings described in the specificationdo not represent the technical idea of the present invention but arejust exemplary embodiments. Thus, it should be understood that variousequivalents and modifications may exist which can be replaced at thetime of filing an application.

While the terms including an ordinal number, such as “first,” “second,”etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, such elements arenot limited to those terms. For example, a first component may be nameda second component without departing from the scope of the presentinvention and the second component may also be similarly named the firstcomponent.

It is to be understood that when one element is referred to as being“connected to” or “coupled to” another element, it may be connected orcoupled logically or physically. In other words, it is to be understoodthat one element may be directly connected or coupled to another elementor indirectly connected or coupled to another element with a thirdelement intervening therebetween.

In the following description, the technical terms are used only forexplaining a specific exemplary embodiment while not limiting thepresent disclosure. An expression used in the singular encompasses theexpression of the plural, unless it has a clearly different meaning inthe context. It will be further understood that the terms “include,”“comprise,” or “have” used in this specification, specify the presenceof stated features, steps, operations, components, parts, orcombinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition ofone or more other features, numerals, steps, operations, components,parts, or combinations thereof.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executableinstructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media can beany available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or specialpurpose computer system. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation,the computer-readable media can include physical computer-readablestorage media including RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium which can be used to store or deliver desired program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions, computer-readableinstructions, or data structures and which can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computersystem configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers,laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones,PDAs, pagers, routers, switches, and the like.

The invention may also be practiced in distributed system environmentswhere local and remote computer systems, which are linked (either byhardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination ofhardwired and wireless data links) through a network, both performtasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may belocated in both local and remote memory storage devices.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a beacon service system according toan embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a beacon service system according to an embodimentof the present invention may include a beacon device 100, a beaconsignal management server 200, a beacon service sever 300, and a userterminal 400.

The beacon device 100 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is a reference node for a location-based service. In thelocation-based service system, a location of the user terminal 400 maybe calculated on the basis of location information of the beacon device100 and information on a distance between the beacon device 100 and theuser terminal 400, and a predetermined location-based service may beprovided to user terminals 400 adjacent with respect to the beacondevice 100. The location-based service refers to a service that isprovided based on location information or provided only in apredetermined region, and may include, but is not limited to, a mobilepayment service limited to a specific affiliate, a shop informationservice, a coupon providing service, and a geo-fence service that isperformed within a predetermined region with respect to a referencepoint. The beacon device 100 may be used as a reference point forselecting a service target in the location-based service.

The beacon device 100 is fixedly installed at a certain location tobroadcast a beacon signal at certain periods and inform its own locationto the user terminal 400 that approaches the beacon device 100. The userterminal 400 receives information for the location-based service usingthe received beacon signal. Here, the beacon signal may includeinformation for identifying the beacon device 100, that is,identification information that is uniquely assigned for each beacondevice 100.

Here, the identification information may include, for example, one ormore of first identification information, that is, a universally uniqueidentifier (UUID) standardized by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) andsecond identification information, which has a lower rank than the UUID,that is, a major code and a minor code for identifying a service targetor location.

In this case, the beacon device 100 and the user terminal 400 maycommunicate on the basis of various short-distance communicationtechnologies, for example, Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communicationtechnology. Particularly, the beacon device 100 may operate in aperipheral mode defined in the BLE and broadcast a beacon signal tonearby user terminals 400.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in order for the userterminal 400 to receive a plurality of beacon services from the beaconservice server 300, the beacon device 100 may broadcast a plurality ofbeacon signals mapped to different pieces of service information.

Accordingly, the user terminal 400 that approaches the beacon device 100according to an embodiment of the present invention may receive aplurality of beacon services through the beacon device 100.

Furthermore, the beacon device 100 may support the location-basedservice in cooperation with the beacon service server 300 through anetwork. For reference, the term “network” is defined as one or moredata links that allow electronic data to be transmitted between computersystems and/or modules. When information is transferred or provided overa network or another communications connection (either hardwired,wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computersystem, the computer system properly views the connection as acomputer-readable medium. The computer-readable instructions include,for example, any instructions and data which cause a general purposecomputer system or special purpose computer system to perform a certainfunction or group of functions. The computer-executable instructions maybe, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such asassembly language, or even source code.

In this case, the network may include various forms of communicationnetworks that have been already established. For example, the networkmay include a wireless communication type, such as wireless LAN (WLAN),Wi-Fi, Wibro, Wimax, and High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), anda wired communication type, such as the Ethernet, xDSL (ADSL, VDSL), ahybrid fiber coaxial cable (HFC), fiber to the curb (FTTC), and fiber tothe home (FTTH) according to a system implementation scheme.

Moreover, the network may include, for example, a plurality of accessnetworks and core networks and may further include an external network,for example, the Internet network. Here, each of the access networks isan access network that performs wired/wireless communication with theuser terminal 400 and may be implemented as a plurality of base stationssuch as a base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB,and an eNodeB and a base station controller such as a radio networkcontroller (RNC). In addition, as described above, a digital signalprocessing unit and a wireless signal processing unit that wereintegrally implemented in the base station are separated into a digitalunit (hereinafter referred to as a DU) and a radio unit (hereinafterreferred to as an RU), respectively. A plurality of RUs may be installedin a plurality of regions and may be connected with a centralized DU.

In addition, a core network constituting a mobile network along with anaccess network serves to connect the access network with an externalnetwork, for example, the Internet network.

As described above, the core network is a network system that performs amain function for a mobile communication service of mobility control andswitching between access networks and is configured to perform circuitswitching or packet switching and manage and control packet flow in themobile network. In addition, the core network (not shown) may serve tomanage mobility between frequencies and interoperate between traffic inthe access network (not shown) and the core network (not shown) andanother network, for example, the Internet network (not shown). The corenetwork (not shown) may further include a serving gateway (SGW), a PDNgateway (PGW), a mobile switching center (MSC), a home location register(HLR), a mobile mobility entity (MME), and a home subscriber server(HSS).

In addition, the Internet network (not shown) may denote a typical opencommunication network through which information is exchanged accordingto a TCP/IP protocol, that is, a public network and may be connectedwith the beacon service server 300 and configured to provide informationprovided from the beacon service server 300 to the user terminal 400 viathe core network (not shown) and the access network (not shown) andprovide information provided from the user terminal 400 to the beaconservice server 300 via the core network (not shown) and the accessnetwork (not shown).

The beacon device 100 and the user terminal 400 may cooperate throughshort-range communication technologies using WiFi, Bluetooth low energy(BLE), Zigbee, or ultrasonic waves.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the network may also includeother communication types that are widely known or will be developed inthe future, in addition to the above communication types.

The beacon signal management server 200 is configured to manage thebeacon device 100 and may remotely transfer, to the beacon device 100,transmission information for a plurality of beacon signals to bebroadcast by the beacon device 100. There may or may not be the beaconsignal management server 200 in the beacon service system according tothe service convenience of a service provider.

The transmission information is information needed when the beacondevice 100 broadcasts a plurality of beacon signals. For example, thetransmission information may include overall information for generatingthe plurality of beacon signals of the beacon device and individualinformation regarding each of the plurality of beacon signals.

In detail, the overall information may include the number of beaconsignals, the number of repetitions of the beacon signals, an intervalbetween beacon signals, and a beacon signal transmission duration, andthe individual information may include first individual information,second individual information, and transmission power intensity.

Here, the identification information may include, for example, one ormore of first identification information, that is, a universally uniqueidentifier (UUID) standardized by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) andsecond identification information, which has a lower rank than the UUID,that is, a major code and a minor code for identifying a service targetor location.

In addition, the beacon signal management server 200 may manage a stateof each beacon device 100 by communication with the beacon device 100over a network.

Next, the beacon service server 300 provides a location-based service incommunication with one or more of the beacon device 100 and the userterminal 400. For example, the beacon service server 300 may manage astate of each beacon device 100 by communication with the beacon device100 over a network.

Furthermore, the beacon service server 300 may provide thelocation-based service to the user terminal 400 by communication withthe user terminal 400 that has recognized the beacon device 100 over anetwork.

Next, the user terminal 400 is a device of a user who uses or receivesthe location based service. The user terminal 400 may be implemented asan electronic device that may transmit or receive various types of datavia a network according to a key manipulation of the user. To this end,the user terminal 400 may include a computing environment such as amemory for storing programs and protocols and a microprocessor forexecuting any type of program to perform calculation and controlfunctions.

For example, the user terminal 400 may be any one of a tablet PC, alaptop, a personal computer (PC), a smart phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smart TV, a mobile communication terminal, etc.

Particularly, the user terminal 400 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention should have a short-distance communication function ofcommunicating with the beacon device 100, for example, a BLE function.

In this case, the user terminal 400 may interoperate with the beacondevice 100 in a disconnection scheme or in a connection scheme.

In particular, the user terminal 400 operates in a central mode definedin the BLE and performs a scanning procedure or discovery procedure todetect a nearby beacon device 100. Through the detection of the beacondevice 100, the user terminal 400 may receive a beacon signal broadcastfrom the beacon device 100 positioned within a communication-enableddistance, cooperate with the beacon service server 300 on the basis ofinformation extracted from the received beacon signal, and receive acorresponding location-based service (e.g., a mobile payment servicelimited to a specific affiliate, a shop information service, a couponproviding service, and a geo-fence service that is performed within apredetermined region with respect to a reference point).

In this case, the user terminal 400 may receive the location-basedservice although the user terminal 400 is not connected with the beacondevice 100.

As another example, the user terminal 400 may receive locationinformation from one or more beacon devices 100 that are located nearby,estimate a distance between the one or more beacon devices 100, andcalculate its own location.

In the above-described location-based service system, the configurationof the beacon device 100 will be described in detail with reference toFIG. 3.

Before the detailed description of the configuration and operation ofthe beacon service system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the following description will be made on a computingenvironment in which the configuration and operation are performedaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Elements of the beacon service system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, in particular, the beacon device 100, the beaconsignal management server 200, the beacon service server 300, and theuser terminal 400 may be configured to operate on the basis of thecomputing system as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief,general description of a suitable computing environment in which thepresent invention may be implemented. Although not required, theinvention will be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by computer systems. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like,which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, andprogram modules represent examples of the program code means forexecuting acts of the methods disclosed herein.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example computing system for implementing theinvention includes a general-purpose computing device in the form of acomputer system including a processing unit 11, a system memory 12, anda system bus 10 that couples various system components including thesystem memory 12 to the processing unit 11.

The processing unit 11 may execute computer-executable instructionsdesigned to implement features of the present invention.

The system bus 10 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory12 includes a read only memory (ROM) 12 a and a random access memory(RAM) 12 b. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 13 a, containing thebasic routines that help transfer information between elements withincomputing system, such as during start-up, may be stored in the ROM 12a.

The computing system may include a storage unit. An example of thestorage unit may be a storage device 14.

The storage device 14 may include, for example, a hard disk drive forreading information from or writing information to a hard disk, amagnetic disk drive for reading information from and writing informationto a magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive for reading informationfrom or writing information to an optical disk, such as a CD-ROM orother optical media. The hard disk drive, magnetic disk drive, andoptical disk drive are connected to the system bus 10 by a hard diskdrive interface, a magnetic disk drive interface, and an optical driveinterface, respectively.

In addition, the computing system may further include an external memory15 as the storage device. The external memory 15 may be connected to thesystem bus 10 through an input/output interface 18.

The drives and their associated computer-readable media providenonvolatile storage of computer-executable instructions, datastructures, program modules, and other data. Although the exampleenvironment described herein employs the hard disk, the magnetic diskand the optical disk as the non-volatile storage device 14, other typesof computer-readable media for storing data may be used, includingmagnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, RAMs,ROMs, and the like.

Program code means including one or more program modules may be storedin the storage device 14, ROM 12 a, and RAM 12 b, including an operatingsystem 13 b, one or more application programs 13 c, other programmodules 13 d, and program data 13 e, which are loaded and executed bythe processing unit 11.

Moreover, a user may enter commands and information into the computingsystem through a keyboard, a pointing device, or other input devices 16,such as a microphone, joy stick, game pad, scanner, or the like. Theseinput devices 16 can be connected to the processing unit 11 through theinput/output interface 18 coupled to the system bus 10. The input/outputinterface 18 logically represents any of a wide variety of possibleinterfaces, such as a serial port interface, a PS/2 interface, aparallel port interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, or anInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 interface(i.e., a FireWire interface), or may even logically represent acombination of different interfaces.

In addition, the computer system is connectable to networks, such as,for example, an office-wide or enterprise-wide computer network, a homenetwork, an intranet, and/or the Internet. The computer system canexchange data with external sources, such as, for example, remotecomputer systems, remote applications, and/or remote databases over suchnetworks.

The computing system according to an embodiment of the present inventionincludes a network interface 19, through which the computer systemreceives data from external sources and/or transmits data to externalsources.

The network interface 19 can logically represent one or more softwareand/or hardware modules, such as, for example, a network interface cardand corresponding Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) stack.The network interface 19 may support various communication protocols.

For example, the network interface 19 may support various mobilecommunication standards such as Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS),Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA),High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE),and, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), and also short-range wireless networktechnologies such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and Zigbee.

Likewise, the computer system receives data from external sources and/ortransmits data to external sources through the input/output interface18. The input/output interface 18 may be coupled to a modem 17 (e.g., astandard modem, a cable modem, or a digital subscriber line (DSL)modem), through which the computer system receives data from and/ortransmits data to external sources.

While FIG. 2 represents a suitable operating environment for the presentinvention, the principles of the present invention may be employed inany system that is capable of, with suitable modification if necessary,implementing the principles of the present invention. The environmentillustrated in FIG. 2 is illustrative only and by no means representseven a small portion of the wide variety of environments in which theprinciples of the present invention may be implemented.

The configuration and function according to an embodiment of the presentinvention may be implemented as a program, and stored in and accessed byany computer-readable storage medium associated with the computingsystem as shown in FIG. 2. For example, portions of such program modulesfor performing functions according to an embodiment of the presentinvention and portions of associated program data may be included in anoperating system 13 b, application programs 13 c, program modules 13 dand/or program data 13 e.

When a mass storage device, such as a hard disk, is coupled to thecomputer system, such program modules and associated program data mayalso be stored in the mass storage device. In a networked environment,program modules for performing a function according to the presentinvention, or portions thereof, can be stored in remote memory storagedevices, such as, for example, a system memory and/or mass storagedevices associated with a remote computer system connected through amodem of the input/output interface 18 or the network interface 19, forexample, computing systems of the beacon device 100 and the beaconsignal management server 200. As described above, execution of suchmodules may be performed in a distributed environment.

In a beacon service system implemented on the basis of theabove-described computing system, a detailed configuration of eachdevice according to an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Amodule constituting each device, which will be described below, denotesan element that performs a certain function implemented in software,hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, the module is a programmodule stored in a storage medium of the computing system as shown inFIG. 2 and may be executed by the processing unit 11.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the beacondevice 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the beacon device 100 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may basically include a first communication module110, a control module 120, and a storage module 130 and may furtherinclude a second communication module 140.

The first communication module 110 is configured to broadcast a beaconsignal to the user terminal 400 adjacent to a nearbycommunication-enabled range on the basis of the Bluetooth low energy(BLE) technology. Particularly, the first communication module 110included in the beacon device 100 may operate in a peripheral modedefined in the BLE.

In detail, the first communication module 110 operates according tocontrol of the control module 120 and broadcasts the beacon signal.Here, the beacon signal broadcast by the first communication module 110may include unique identification information assigned to the beacondevice 100 such that the user terminal 400 may identify the beacondevice 100. Here, the identification information may include, forexample, one or more of first identification information, that is, auniversally unique identifier (UUID) standardized by the Open SoftwareFoundation (OSF) and second identification information, which has alower rank than the UUID, that is, a major code and a minor code foridentifying a service target or location.

The control module 120 is configured to control an overall operation ofthe beacon device 100 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The control module 120 controls the first communicationmodule 110 to broadcast a beacon signal such that the nearby userterminal 400 may recognize the beacon device 100. In particular, in anembodiment of the present invention, the control module 120 may controlthe first communication module 110 to broadcast a plurality of beaconsignals.

In this case, the control module 120 may control the first communicationmodule 110 to alternately broadcast a plurality of beacon signalsaccording to the transmission information.

The storage module 130 is a means for storing data or a program neededfor an operation of the beacon device 100. In particular, the storagemodule 130 may store information to be broadcast to the user terminalthrough the first communication module 110. The information may include,for example, information on a location where the beacon device 100 isinstalled.

Moreover, the storage module 130 may store identification information ofthe beacon device 100 to be included in the beacon signal that isbroadcast through the first communication module 110. In addition, thestorage module 130 may store the transmission information for theplurality of beacon signals that are broadcast through the firstcommunication module 110.

Accordingly, the first communication module 110 may access the storagemodule 130, read the information stored in the storage module 130, andtransmit the information to the user terminal 400 according to controlof the control module 120.

Next, the second communication module 140 is configured to transmit andreceive data over a network. In detail, the second communication module140 may access the beacon service server 300 or the beacon signalmanagement server 200 over a network to transmit and receive data formanaging the beacon service server 300 and the beacon device 100 orproviding a location-based service to the user terminal 400. Forexample, the second communication module 140 may receive data from thebeacon service server 300 and transmit the received data to the userterminal 400.

In addition, through the second communication module 140, the beacondevice 100 may receive the transmission information for broadcasting theplurality of beacon signals from the beacon signal management server200.

The second communication module 140 may operate on the basis of adifferent communication technology from the first communication module110 and may be implemented as any one of a WiFi communication module, aZigbee communication module, a mobile communication module, an opticalcommunication module, a cable communication module, and a wired Internetcommunication module according to communication technology applied tothe network.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a beaconsignal management server according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a beacon signal management server 200 according toan embodiment of the present invention basically includes acommunication module 210, a control module 220, a storage module 230,and an input module 240.

The communication module 210 is configured to transmit and receive dataover a network. In detail, the communication module 210 may access thebeacon device 100 over a network and transmit and receive data formanaging the beacon device 100.

For example, through the communication module 210, the beacon signalmanagement server 200 may transmit the transmission information forbroadcasting the plurality of beacon signals to the beacon device 100.

The communication module 210 may be implemented as any one of a WiFicommunication module, a Zigbee communication module, a mobilecommunication module, an optical communication module, a cablecommunication module, and a wired Internet communication moduleaccording to communication technology applied to the network.

The control module 220 is configured to control an overall operation ofthe beacon signal management server 200 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. The control module 120 may transmit thetransmission information used for the beacon device 100 to broadcast theplurality of beacon signals to the beacon device 100 through thecommunication module 210.

In addition, the control module 220 may store scheduling informationinput through the input module in the storage module 230 in addition tothe transmission information. The scheduling information is informationfor transmitting the transmission information to the beacon device 100according to a planned schedule when there are a plurality of pieces oftransmission information.

The storage module 230 is means for storing data needed for an operationof the beacon device 100. In particular, the storage module 230 maystore data to be broadcast to the user terminal 400 through the firstcommunication module 110 of the beacon device 100. The data may include,for example, information on a location where the beacon device 100 isinstalled.

Moreover, the storage module 230 may store identification information ofthe beacon device 100 to be included in the beacon signal that isbroadcast through the first communication module 110 of the beacondevice 100. In addition, the storage module 230 may store transmissioninformation of the beacon device 100 to be included in the plurality ofbeacon signals that are broadcast through the first communication module110 of the beacon device 100. For example, the transmission informationmay include overall information for generating the plurality of beaconsignals of the beacon device and individual information regarding eachof the plurality of beacon signals. In detail, the overall informationmay include the number of beacon signals, the number of repetitions ofthe beacon signals, an interval between beacon signals, and a beaconsignal transmission duration, and the individual information may includefirst individual information, second individual information, andtransmission power intensity. Here, the identification information mayinclude, for example, one or more of first identification information,that is, a universally unique identifier (UUID) standardized by the OpenSoftware Foundation (OSF) and second identification information, whichhas a low rank than the UUID, that is, a major code and a minor code fordistinguishing between service targets or locations.

In addition, when there are the plurality of pieces of transmissioninformation, the storage module 230 may store the scheduling informationthat allows the transmission information to be transmitted to the beacondevice 100 according to the planned schedule. For example, thescheduling information may include date information and time informationthat are used to determine when the beacon signal management server 200transmits the transmission information to the beacon device 100 andorder information that is used to determine whether the beacon signalmanagement server 200 transmits the plurality of pieces of transmissioninformation sequentially, selectively, or randomly.

Accordingly, the communication module 210 may access the storage module230, read the transmission information stored in the storage module 230,and transmit the transmission information to the beacon device 100according to control of the control module 220.

In addition, the communication module 210 may read the schedulinginformation stored in the storage module 230 and transmit thetransmission information to the beacon device 100 in an appropriateorder at a planned date and time according to control of the controlmodule 220.

Lastly, the input module 240 is connected with an external device (notshown) and configured to input data between the external device and thecontrol module 220. The input module 240 enables the beacon signalmanagement server 200 to be controlled or managed through the externaldevice. For example, the input module 240 may be a general purpose inputoutput (GPIO) module. For reference, the GPIO is a general purposeinput/output interface in which a connector is not fixed and isselectively used for input or output, and may include a GPIO pindirection register (GPDR) for setting an input/output direction of theconnector, an output circuit for outputting data through the connector,and an input circuit for inputting data through the connector.

An operation of a service system using the beacon device 100 configuredas described above will be described below with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a service performing processin a beacon service system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 5, when the beacon signal management server 200 isincluded in the configuration of the beacon service system, the beaconsignal management server 200 may transmit transmission information forbroadcasting a plurality of beacon signals to the beacon device 100(S105).

Thus, the beacon device 100 may alternately broadcast the plurality ofbeacon signals according to the received transmission information(S125). For example, a beacon signal matched with first beacon serviceinformation is transmitted to a number of unspecified terminal devices400. Any user terminal 400 that has entered communication coverage ofthe beacon device 100 may receive the first beacon signal through ascanning or detection procedure (S110).

Accordingly, any user terminal 400 among a plurality of user terminalsthat approach the beacon device 100 may receive the first beacon signal,and any user terminal 400 that has received the first beacon signal mayrequest a beacon service corresponding to the first beacon signal fromthe beacon service server 300 (S115).

Thus, the beacon service server 300 may provide a first service to theuser terminal 400 according to request of a first beacon service by theuser terminal 400 (S120).

Likewise, a beacon signal matched with nth beacon service information istransmitted to a number of unspecified terminal devices 400. Any userterminal 400 that has entered communication coverage of the beacondevice 100 may receive the nth beacon signal through a scanning ordetection procedure (S125).

Accordingly, any user terminal 400 among a plurality of user terminalsthat approach the beacon device 100 may receive the nth beacon signal,and the user terminal 400 that has received the nth beacon signal mayrequest a beacon service corresponding to the nth beacon signal from thebeacon service server 300 (S130).

Thus, the beacon service server 300 may provide an nth service to theuser terminal 400 according to request of an nth beacon service by theuser terminal 400 (S135).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a beacon service providing method inthe beacon device 10 of the above-described beacon service systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. A method ofproviding a plurality of beacon services to one beacon device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, the beacon device 100 may receive transmissioninformation used to broadcast a plurality of beacon signals from thebeacon signal management server 200 (S205). The beacon device 100 maystore the received transmission information. Furthermore, when there isnot the beacon signal management server 200, an administrator may storethe transmission information in the beacon device 100 (S210).

Thus, the beacon device 100 may use the stored transmission informationto alternately broadcast the plurality of beacon signals (S215). Indetail, the beacon device 100 may use the stored transmissioninformation to alternately broadcast the plurality of beacon signals apredetermined number of repetitions in a predetermined beacon signaltransmission duration (S215). Accordingly, when the beacon signaltransmission duration has elapsed or the predetermined number ofrepetitions of the beacon signal has been exceeded, the beacon device100 may receive transmission information for a new beacon signal fromthe beacon signal management server 200 and broadcast the new beaconsignal according to the received transmission information (S220).

Lastly, the beacon device 100 may delete the transmission informationstored in the beacon device 100 by initializing the system before thebeacon service ends (S225).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a beacon service providing method inthe beacon signal management server 200 of the above-described beaconservice system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Amethod of providing a plurality of beacon services to one beacon device100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 7, the administrator may input transmissioninformation and scheduling information for managing a plurality ofpieces of transmission information to the beacon signal managementserver 200 (S305). The beacon signal management server 200 may store theinput transmission information and scheduling information (S310).

Thus, the beacon signal management server 200 may transmit a pluralityof pieces of transmission information that are previously input to thebeacon device 100 in an appropriate order at a schedule and a timeaccording to the schedule information (S315).

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of transmission information that isset when one beacon device provides a plurality of beacon servicesaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, transmission information for the plurality ofbeacon signals may include, for example, overall information forgenerating the plurality of beacon signals of the beacon device andindividual information regarding each of the plurality of beaconsignals.

The overall beacon signal information may include one or more of thenumber of beacon signals, a transmission duration, the number ofrepetitions, an overall signal interval, and other information.

In the overall beacon signal information, the number of beacon signalsmay be the number of beacon signals mapped to different pieces ofservice information broadcast by one beacon device 100. For example,when ‘2’ is input as the number of beacon signals, two different beaconsignals are transmitted. This may indicate that two different pieces ofservice information are provided.

In the overall beacon signal information, the transmission duration maybe a period during which the beacon device 100 broadcasts the pluralityof beacon signals. For example, when ‘30000’ is input as thetransmission duration, the beacon device 100 may broadcast the beaconsignal for 30000 seconds.

In the overall beacon signal information, the number of repetitions maybe the number of times all of the beacon signals are broadcast when theplurality of beacon signals are alternately transmitted. For example,when ‘10000’ is input as the number of times and the number of beaconsignals is 2, the signal transmission may be repeated a total of 10000times, assuming that one time indicates that the beacon device 100broadcasts beacon signal 1 and beacon signal 2 in sequence.

Accordingly, a transmission period of the plurality of beacon signalsmay be set as one of the transmission duration and the number ofrepetitions.

In the overall beacon signal information, the overall signal intervalmay refer to an interval between different beacon signals when theplurality of beacon signals are alternately broadcast. For example, on acondition that there are two beacon signals, when ‘500 msec’ is input asthe overall signal interval, the beacon device 100 may transmit adifferent beacon signal every 0.5 seconds. On the other hand, on acondition that there is only one beacon signal, ‘0’ is input as theoverall signal interval, and an interval between the beacon signals maybe adjusted by an individual signal interval in the individual beaconsignal information. This may be intended to prevent system collision dueto redundant information between the overall beacon signal informationand the individual beacon signal information.

Next, the individual beacon signal information may include beacon signaldistinction information (beacon signal number), one or more pieces ofidentification information for distinguishing a service target fromanother using one or more ranks (UUID, Major ID, Minor ID), atransmission power intensity, an individual signal interval, and otherinformation.

In the individual beacon signal information, the beacon signaldistinction information (e.g., beacon signal number) is information fordistinguishing between a plurality of beacon signals to be alternatelybroadcast.

In the individual beacon signal information, the universally uniqueidentifier (UUID), which is first identification information, is onepiece of unique identification information assigned to the servicetarget and may be identification information corresponding to a toprank. For example, service target companies (e.g., department store A)may be distinguished using the UUID.

In the individual beacon signal information, the Major ID and the MinorID, which are second identification information, have a lower rank thanthe UUID and are identification information for further distinguishingthe service target with the UUID. For example, the Major ID may be setto be used to distinguish between branches of the service target company(e.g., a first shop of department store A), and the Minor ID may be setto be used to distinguish between services provided by the shop (e.g., afirst service of the first shop of department store A).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a combination ofthe Major ID and the Minor ID may be used as information fordistinguishing service information to be provided by the beacon device100. For example, service information matched with Major ID=1 and MinorID=1 may be different from service information matched with Major ID=1and Minor ID=2.

Furthermore, in the individual beacon signal information, thetransmission power intensity is information that sets a transmissionpower intensity of a beacon signal of the beacon device 100. Forexample, beacon signal 1 may be set to have a transmission powerintensity of ‘70 dBm’ while beacon signal 2 may be set to have atransmission power intensity of ‘50 dBm.’ In this way, the plurality ofbeacon signals may be transmitted in different coverage areas byadjusting the transmission power intensity. The transmission powerintensity may vary depending on the type of service information to beprovided corresponding to the beacon signal.

In the individual beacon signal information, the individual signalinterval may denote a temporal period between signals when one beaconsignal is broadcast at certain intervals. For example, on a conditionthat there is one beacon signal, when ‘500 msec’ is input, the beacondevice 100 may transmit the beacon signal every 0.5 seconds. In thiscase, the overall signal interval that is set in the overall beaconsignal information may have a higher priority than the individual signalinterval. When the overall signal interval is set in the overall beaconsignal information, the individual signal interval may be set as ‘0.’This is intended to prevent system collision due to redundantinformation.

The transmission information of the beacon signal is not limited to theabove-described items, and an additional item may be created asnecessary. Furthermore, the existing items may be used with anothermeaning according to the purpose.

FIG. 9 is a view showing, along a time axis, a plurality of beaconsignals generated by a beacon device according to transmissioninformation when one beacon device provides a plurality of beaconservices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, it is assumed that the transmission information hasthe same numerical values as illustrated in FIG. 8.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the number of beacon signals is two. Since theoverall signal interval is 500 msec, beacon signal 1 and beacon signal 2may be generated at intervals of 500 msec. Since the transmissionduration of the plurality of beacon signals is 30000 sec, and the numberof repetitions is 10000, the beacon signal are alternately generatedbefore the transmission duration of 30000 sec has elapsed or the numberof repetitions exceeds 10000. Since beacon signal 1 and beacon signal 2are generated by one beacon device 100, and beacon signals for servicesprovided by the service target company (e.g., department store A), UUIDsof beacon signal 1 and beacon signal 2 may be the same. The beaconsignal number of beacon signal 1 is ‘1’ and the Major ID is ‘1.’ Thebeacon signal number of beacon signal 2 is ‘2’ and the Major ID is ‘1.’Thus, the shops of the service target company (e.g., a first shop ofdepartment store A) may also be the same. Since the Minor ID of beaconsignal 1 is ‘1’ and the Minor ID of beacon signal 2 is ‘2,’ which isdifferent from the Minor ID of beacon signal 1, beacon services providedthrough the signals may be different. The transmission power intensity(Tx Power) of beacon signal 1 is 70 dBm, and the transmission powerintensity of beacon signal 2 is 50 dBm, which is different from thetransmission power intensity of beacon signal 1. Accordingly, since thetransmission power intensity of beacon signal 1 is greater than thetransmission power intensity of beacon signal 2, it can be seen thatbeacon signal 1 is used to provide a service to a user terminal 400 thatis located more distant than the coverage of beacon signal 2.

FIG. 10 is a view showing example 1 for showing that one beacon deviceprovides a plurality of beacon services according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

In an embodiment to be described below, it is assumed that a beacondevice 100 is installed on a counter of a certain shop and configured totransmit beacon signal 1 and beacon signal 2 alternately.

Referring to FIG. 10, beacon signal 1 that is broadcast up to 1 meterfrom the beacon device 100 is intended to provide a stamp service to acustomer who has purchased a product at a shop after payment, and beaconsignal 2 that is broadcast up to 30 meters from the beacon device 100 isintended to provide a coupon service to all customers who have visitedthe shop.

Accordingly, the transmission information of beacon signal 1 (withincoverage of 1 meter) may be set as −20 dBm, which is less than thetransmission power intensity, such that the user terminal 400 locatedwithin 1 meter from a counter on which the beacon device 100 isinstalled may sense the beacon signal. Furthermore, in order to clarifythe distinction between the beacon signals, Major ID=1 and Minor ID=1are set. Accordingly, beacon signal 1 is received by only a userterminal of a customer who approaches a counter for payment, and thecustomer may receive a stamp service mapped to identificationinformation (i.e., Major ID=1 and Minor ID=1) of beacon signal 1.

Unlike this, the transmission information of beacon signal 2 (withincoverage of 30 meters) is set as 5 dBm, which is greater than thetransmission power intensity, such that beacon signal 2 may betransmitted up to 30 meters, which is the entire range of the shop.Furthermore, in order to clarify the distinction between the beaconsignals, Major ID=1 and Minor ID=2 are set. Beacon signal 2 may bereceived by user terminals of all customers who have visited the shop,and thus the customers may receive a coupon service mapped toidentification information (i.e., Major ID=1 and Minor ID=2) of beaconsignal 2.

Accordingly, as described above, the beacon device 100 may provide thecoupon service to all customers who have visited the shop and alsoselectively provide the stamp service to a customer who actuallypurchases and pays for a product, by alternately transmitting beaconsignal 1 and beacon signal 2, in which the transmission information isset as described above.

FIG. 11 is a view showing example 2 for showing that one beacon deviceprovides a plurality of beacon services according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

In an embodiment to be described below, it is assumed that the beacondevice 100 is installed on a counter of each shop on the same floor ofthe same department store and configured to alternately transmit acommon service beacon signal for a department store (e.g., beacon signal0-1) and a dedicated service beacon signal for each shop (e.g., beaconsignal 1-1, beacon signal 2-1, beacon signal 3-1, and beacon signal4-1).

Referring to FIG. 11, there are a plurality of shops in one departmentstore. Basically, one beacon device 100 may be installed in each shop.It is assumed that the beacon signals of the beacon devices 100 have thesame UUID corresponding to the top rank because the beacon devices 100are located in the same department store and thus the same serviceprovider may provide beacon services.

Accordingly, a plurality of beacon signals broadcast by the beacondevice 100 may have service types distinguished by the Major ID andMinor ID corresponding to a lower rank.

A common service of the department store may be provided to userterminals 400 located in all regions of the department store. To thisend, since a beacon signal mapped to the common department store serviceshould be transmitted to all regions in the department store, the beaconsignal may be broadcast to the beacon devices 100 installed in all shopsof the department store. This may be implemented by adjusting thetransmission power intensity. For transmission information that is usedto generate the plurality of beacon signals, the beacon signal may beset to have Major ID=0 and Minor ID=1.

There may be a beacon service provided only by shop 1. In addition, aplurality of beacon services may also be provided by shop 1.

A shop-1-dedicated service provided only by shop 1 may be provided tothe user terminals 400 located in a region of shop 1. To this end, sincea beacon signal mapped to the shop-1-dedicated service should betransmitted only to the region of shop 1, the beacon signal may bebroadcast only by the beacon device 100 installed in shop 1. This may beimplemented by adjusting the transmission power intensity. Fortransmission information that is used to generate the plurality ofbeacon signals, the beacon signal mapped to the shop-1-dedicated servicemay be set to have Major ID=1 and Minor ID=1.

Furthermore, when there are two shop-1-dedicated services, a beaconsignal of another shop-1-dedicated service having Major ID=1 and MinorID=2 may be broadcast from the beacon device 100 of shop 1.

Likewise, shop 2, shop 3, and shop 4 may provide dedicated beaconservices of the shops.

To this end, the beacon device 100 of each shop may broadcast aplurality of beacon signals in the same beacon service providing methodas that in shop 1.

The method according to an embodiment of the present invention may beimplemented in the form of software that is readable by various computermeans and may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. Here,the recording medium may include a program instruction, a data file, adata structure, or a combination thereof. The program instructionrecorded on the recording medium may be designed and configuredspecifically for the present invention or can be publicly known andavailable to those who are skilled in the field of computer software.

Examples of the recording medium include a magnetic medium such as ahard disk, a floppy disk, and a magnetic tape, an optical medium such asa CD-ROM, a DVD, etc., a magneto-optical medium such as a flopticaldisk, and a hardware device such as a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, etc.that is specially configured to store and perform the programinstruction. Examples of the program instruction include a high-levellanguage code executable by a computer with an interpreter, in additionto a machine language code made by a compiler. The above exemplaryhardware device can be configured to operate as one or more softwaremodules in order to perform the operation of the present invention, andvice versa.

Furthermore, the beacon device 100 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention may be driven by an instruction for enabling one ormore processors to perform the above-described functions and processes.Such instructions can, for example, comprise interpreted instructions,such as script instructions, e.g., JavaScript or ECMAScriptinstructions, or executable code, or other instructions stored in acomputer-readable medium. Furthermore, the device according to anembodiment of the present invention may be distributively implementedover a network, such as a server farm, or may be implemented in a singlecomputer device.

Implementations of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be provided in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more thereof. Embodiments ofthe subject matter described in this specification can be implemented asone or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules ofcomputer program instructions encoded on a tangible program carrier forexecution by, or to control the operation of, a data processingapparatus. The computer-readable medium can be a machine-readablestorage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, acomposition of material effecting a machine-readable propagated signal,or a combination of one or more thereof.

The term “system” used herein encompasses all apparatus, devices, andmachines for processing data, including by way of example, aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The processing system can include, in addition to hardware, code thatcreates an execution environment for the computer program in question,e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, adatabase management system, an operating system, or a combination of oneor more thereof.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of aprogramming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, ordeclarative or procedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form,including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component,subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment.The computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file of a filesystem. The program may be stored in a single file provided to arequested program, in interoperating multiple files (for example, fileseach storing some of one or more modules, lower level programs, orcodes) or in a part of a file containing other programs or data (forexample, one or more scripts stored in a markup language document). Thecomputer program may be located on a single site or over a plurality ofsites in a distributed fashion and developed so as to be executed onmultiple computers connected to one another through a communicationnetwork or on a single computer.

The disclosed embodiments can be implemented in a computing system thatincludes a back-end component, e.g., a data server, or that includes amiddleware component, e.g., an application server, or that includes afront-end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphical userinterface or a web browser through which a user can interact with animplementation of what is disclosed here, or any combination of one ormore such back-end, middleware, or front-end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of what being claims or of whatmay be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific toparticular embodiments. Features described in the specification in thecontext of individual embodiments may be implemented as a combination ina single embodiment. In contrast, features described in thespecification in the context of a single embodiment may be implementedin multiple embodiments individually or in an appropriatesub-combination. Furthermore, the features may operate in a certaincombination and may initially described as claimed in the combination,but one or more features may be excluded from the claimed combination insome cases, and the claimed combination may be changed into asub-combination or a modification of a sub-combination.

Similarly, even though operations are described in a certain order onthe drawings, it should not be understood that the operations beexecuted in the certain order or in a sequential order to obtain desiredresults, or that all the operation be executed.

In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be beneficial.In addition, it should not be understood that the separation of varioussystem components in the above described embodiments is required in allembodiments, and it should be understood that the above describedprogram components and systems may be incorporated into a singlesoftware product or may be packaged in multiple software products.

Thus, particular embodiments have been described. Other embodiments arewithin the scope of the following claims. For example, the operationsrecited in the claims can be performed in a different order and stillachieve desirable results. As an example, operations depicted in thedrawings in a particular order should not be understood as requiringthat such operations be performed in the particular order shown or insequential order. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallelprocessing may be advantageous.

The description suggests the best mode of the present invention toprovide an example that explains the present invention and also enablesone skilled in the art to manufacture and use the present invention. Thespecification drafted as such is not limited to detailed terms suggestedin the specification. Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that various modifications, changes, and variations may bemade in the example without departing from the scope of the invention.

Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be defined not bythe embodiments but by the appended claims.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, one beacon devicecan provide a plurality of services while one conventional beacon devicecan provide only one service.

In addition, when the beacon signal management server is used, it ispossible to simply change the transmission information of the beaconsignal.

Thus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a pluralityof beacon device are not needed to provide the plurality of services,thereby reducing installation and operating costs of the beacon device.

In this specification, exemplary embodiments of the present inventionhave been classified into the first, second and third exemplaryembodiments and described for conciseness. However, respective steps orfunctions of an exemplary embodiment may be combined with those ofanother exemplary embodiment to implement still another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A beacon device comprising: a storage deviceconfigured to store transmission information for a plurality of beaconsignals, wherein the transmission information includes differenttransmission power intensities respectively corresponding to theplurality of beacon signals; a first communication device configured totransmit the plurality of beacon signals; a controller configured tocontrol the first communication module to transmit the plurality ofbeacon signals using the different transmission power intensities,wherein each of the plurality of beacon signals matches with each ofdifferent beacon services and is transmitted in each different coverageareas respectively corresponding to the different beacon services usingthe different transmission power intensities.
 2. The beacon device ofclaim 1, further comprising a second communication device configured totransmit and receive data to and from a beacon signal management server,wherein the transmission information for the plurality of beacon signalsis received from the beacon signal management server through the secondcommunication module.
 3. The beacon device of any one of claim 1,wherein the transmission information includes overall informationcommonly applied to the plurality of beacon signals and individualinformation individually applied to each of the plurality of beaconsignals.
 4. The beacon device of claim 3, wherein the overallinformation includes one or more of the number of beacon signals, thenumber of repetitions of the beacon signals, an interval between thebeacon signals, and a beacon signal transmission duration, and theindividual information includes the different transmission powerintensities and one or more of first identification information andsecond identification information.
 5. A beacon service systemcomprising: a beacon signal management server; and a beacon device,wherein the beacon signal management server is configured to transmitand receive data in communication with the beacon device and transmittransmission information for a plurality of beacon signals to the beacondevice, the transmission information being used to control the pluralityof beacon signals broadcasted from the beacon device, and wherein thebeacon device is configured to receive the transmitted transmissioninformation from the beacon signal management server, store the receivedtransmission information including different transmission powerintensities respectively corresponding to the plurality of beaconsignals, and transmit the beacon signals using the differenttransmission power intensities, and wherein each of the beacon signalsmatches with each of different beacon services and is transmitted indifferent coverage areas respectively corresponding to the differentbeacon services using the different transmission power intensities.
 6. Abeacon service method in a beacon device, the beacon service methodcomprising: storing transmission information for a plurality of beaconsignals, wherein the transmission information includes differenttransmission power intensities respectively corresponding to theplurality of beacon signals; and transmitting the beacon signals usingthe different transmission power intensities, wherein each of the beaconsignals matches with each of different beacon services and istransmitted in different coverage areas respectively corresponding tothe different beacon services using the different transmission powerintensities.
 7. The beacon service method of claim 6, further comprisingreceiving the transmission information for the plurality of beaconsignals from the beacon signal management server before the storing. 8.A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computerprogram for executing the beacon service method of claim 6.